In part of an expedition into Gabon's Abanda cave system, the explorer Olivier Testa found a population of dwarf crocodiles. The team's crocodile expert Matthew Shirley realised that crocodile eats many bats that falling into the water or lining up to be plucked off the cave walls. With at least 5 kilometres of caves to occupy, its difficult to precisely know how many crocs are in this cave.
Another discovery, when the crocs go deeper, the older, dark-coloured males had become paler, turning a bright orange. The water these crocodiles swim through is essentially an alkaline slurry formed form bat dropping. The urea in bat guano makes the water very basic and erode away the skin and changes its colour. While the crocodiles appear to spend the entire dry season in the caves, they emerge during the wet season at least to breed.
Another discovery, when the crocs go deeper, the older, dark-coloured males had become paler, turning a bright orange. The water these crocodiles swim through is essentially an alkaline slurry formed form bat dropping. The urea in bat guano makes the water very basic and erode away the skin and changes its colour. While the crocodiles appear to spend the entire dry season in the caves, they emerge during the wet season at least to breed.